My best hire: Toula Mavridou on the 'gentlemanly' Simon Farley

'I met Simon through mutual friends. I was running my own Entertainments
PR company, PR Inc, mainly representing music clients and looking to
move into film. Simon was working in film sponsorship and had an amazing
little black book full of contacts.

'Importantly every one of those contacts genuinely liked him. My
business partner Andy Rose and I immediately knew Simon would be an
enormous asset and invited him onto the board.

'Before long we were working on film parties and premieres, not just
helping with PR but also "procuring" talent, none of which would have
been possible without Simon's generosity and skill.

'A few years later, we weren't surprised when he was hired as head of
development for BAFTA.'